This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Shopping centers are not very popular with investors these days, unless they include a grocery store, a sector that proved resilient during the coronavirus outbreak. Evanston Plaza was one of the latest grocery-anchored centers in the Chicago region to trade hands, and its seller secured a big payday. BI Evanston LLC paid Azzurri Evanston Inc. $36.2M for the 212K SF center at 1910 Dempster St. in north suburban Evanston, according to Cook County property records.

That’s more than double the $16M Azzurri paid for it in 2014.

It’s a significant turnaround for what had been a troubled property. A former owner lost control of the center in 2011 after a foreclosure auction, according to Evanston Now, and the center lost a Dominick’s grocery store in 2013, leaving it mostly vacant. The city of Evanston had created a tax increment financing district for the property and later helped Azzurri finance a renovation. 

Adrian Mendoza, Austin Weisenbeck and Sean Sharko of Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago Oak Brook office listed the property on behalf of the seller. The same trio secured and represented the buyer.

The team procured multiple offers from West Coast, Midwest and East Coast investors, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap. Evanston Plaza is one of two shopping centers in the state that sold for more than $36M since the March 2020 shutdown, the company stated.

EXECS

CA Ventures formed a new business unit called CA Capital Advisory, which will comprise CA’s capital markets and governance, strategy and communications, and equity and structuring teams. The Chicago-based company also brought on John Wright, Tom Dreyer, Michael Frenz and Anthony Porcelli to lead its new unit.

Wright, principal and co-head of CA Capital Advisory, joined the company from Kayne Anderson Capital, where he served as senior managing director for more than 11 years. Dreyer, as another principal and co-head, will focus on alternative investments and capital raise strategy. Frenz joined as chief financial officer, and he most recently served as chief financial officer of Clipper Realty. Porcelli joined the practice as executive vice president and general counsel. He previously served as a shareholder at Polsinelli and partner with Jenner & Block.

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Silas Holl-Epstein joined Dayton Street Partners as an analyst. Holl-Epstein will support the Chicago-based industrial and logistics real estate investment firm’s acquisition and development teams. Prior to joining Dayton Street, he worked at CA Ventures focusing on underwriting ground-up speculative industrial developments.

SALES

An affiliate of Next Realty acquired 935 Lakeview Parkway, a single-story, 47K SF office building in north suburban Vernon Hills, which expands the firm’s portfolio of single-story properties. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition was financed by Marc Zisook of First Bank of Highland Park. Tony Lombardo of PSI represented the seller and will market the property for lease. 935 Lakeview Parkway is the ninth single-story office building acquired by affiliates of Next Realty in the past 24 months. 

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GHP Group completed a sale-leaseback of three of its industrial facilities totaling 496K SF. WP Carey acquired the Chicago- and Toronto-based last-mile facilities at an undisclosed price. One of the two Chicago-area facilities is 1501 Nicholas Blvd., a 225K SF warehouse in northwest suburban Elk Grove Village. The other Chicago-area property is 6440 West Howard St., a 161K SF building in Niles that includes 14K SF of office space. Colliers International | Chicago’s Chris Volkert, Jeff Devine, Steve Disse, Brendan Green and Ron Jansen represented GHP Group.

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A local private investor bought a pair of multifamily buildings in Chicago’s West Town and Ravenswood neighborhoods for a total of $9.1M, according to Interra Realty, which brokered the deals. The first, a 10-unit rental community built in 2020 at 1220 North Bosworth Ave. in West Town, sold for $4.9M. The second, a 10-unit apartment building completed in 2019 at 4540 North Ravenswood Ave. in Ravenswood, sold for $4.2M. Both were among the highest ever prices per unit in their respective submarkets, according to Interra, citing CoStar data. Interra’s Brad Feldman represented the buyer of both properties and the seller of 1220 North Bosworth Ave.

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Krumwiede Home Pros bought from Innovative Rack & Gear Co. a 20K SF industrial building at 361-365 Balm Court in west suburban Wood Dale. Krumwiede, a home remodeling business, will move from a 5K SF building in Bensenville and use the Wood Dale building as its new headquarters. Brown Commercial Group’s Pat Crowley represented Krumwiede in the acquisition, and Brown’s Trinity Scurto represented the seller.

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Venture One Real Estate, through a partnership between Venture One and Kovitz Investment Group, closed on the acquisition of a vacant 27K SF industrial building at 2411 United Lane in Elk Grove Village. The multi-tenant building was constructed in 1976. Jonathan Kohn and John D’Orazio of Colliers International have been hired to market the property.

LEASES

Joint venture partners Thor Equities Group and QuadReal signed a new lease with commercial furniture dealership Prevolv for 12K SF at 800 West Fulton Market, a new 19-story mixed-use building with more than 400K SF of office and retail space. A workspace specialist, Prevolv will use the office as its Chicago headquarters. The development is slated to open in September and the office portion is more than 50% leased to Aspen Dental, Teknion and Prevolv.

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Aircraft manufacturer Bombardier renewed its 334K SF lease at 251 Wille Road in northwest suburban Des Plaines, according to landlord ML Realty Partners.

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Intelex USA signed a 35K SF lease at 175 Prairie Lake Road in the Prairie Lake Business Park in northwest suburban East Dundee. Cory Kay, Jeff Locascio and Mike DeSerto of Entre Commercial Realty represented the building owner, 820 North Wolcott LLC, and Mike Berkowitz of Entre worked on behalf of the tenant. The new construction facility is almost complete and is now entirely leased.

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Global eParcel Solutions signed a 32K SF lease at 835-845 Carol Court in Carol Stream, in the Chicago region's DuPage County submarket. The tenant, which provides domestic and international shipping for e-commerce companies, has expanded its footprint by 29K SF through multiple leases over the past five years. Brown Commercial Group’s Mason Hezner represented the tenant. Cushman & Wakefield’s Al Caruana represented the building owner, MP Carol Point Business Center LLC.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Kinzie Builders completed construction of Avere on Duane, a $15M, four-story, 48-unit luxury rental building by REVA Development Partners in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn. The first residents moved in this month. Avere on Duane was constructed on six lots covering more than an acre that was previously occupied by single-family homes. The project marks the fifth project Kinzie Builders has completed for REVA Development Partners. BSB Design Inc. served as architect, and other project partners were RTM & Associates Engineering Consultants, LETech Inc., Pierce Engineering, Loren Stanton Design, Haeger Engineering and Lakota Group.

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Skender broke ground on the redevelopment of Maywood Supportive Living, a five-story, 133K SF supportive living facility for seniors at 316 Randolph St. in west suburban Maywood. The building will provide 100 units of affordable, supportive living housing with healthcare and nursing amenities provided in the facility. The existing building, which formerly housed the Central Baptist Home and has sat vacant for many years, will be stripped down to its structure and building envelope and restored. In 2017, the property was added to the State of Illinois’ National Register of Historic Places. Skender is collaborating with developer Celadon Partners and architect Gleason Architects. Financing is being provided by NDC Corporate Equity Fund, KeyBank, US Bank and the Illinois Housing Development Authority.